Australian Survivor – Tues, Sept 20

Instead of starting with the awkward fallout of the attempt to vote out Kristie, we begin with kidnapped Sue’s introduction to her new blue tribe.
They must all have been wondering which of them Sue was there to send back to yellow, but it looks like that’s one twist the producers aren’t playing … for now.
Former yellow Nick gives her a hug but you just know it’s all going to blow up later on, as it did with JL.
At blue Kristie knows she had a lucky escape, but tells the camera she still has Phoebe as an ally. Oh, Kristie – I fear Conner’s naivety has rubbed off on you.
As Kate sunbakes on the beach we get a glimpse of her armpit and she’s no longer wearing a bandaid.
As Phoebe and Kristie chat the shelter they’ve built over the fire catches alight and thank goodness for Kristie’s quick thinking or their sleeping shelter could have gone up in flames a la Survivor Amazon.
At yellow, Nick starts chatting to Sue about why she voted him out – in front of the whole tribe, mind you – and it escalates quickly. Everyone else pretends they are off in the jungle with the chooks.

Immunity challenge time
This is a challenge they’ve used a few times on US Survivor (including Second Chance), involving spinning quickly to retrieve puzzle, then staggering drunkenly to a balance beam and so on. A few people usually get so dizzy they fall over.
The winner gets immunity and a Hungry Jack’s breakfast (with coffee) eaten by a waterfall.
Blue has to sit out more than half the team and it’s Sam v Conner to begin. Conner does really well, despite looking like he’s going to throw up at one point. Poor Sam takes a hard fall on to one of the poles and it looks like his own pole would have been injured in the process.


Kate then leads Magic Matt and she kills it. OMG – yellow is in the lead. Kristie takes on Brooke and keeps the lead. It’s Phoebe versus JL for blue and JL is a little dynamo, making up a tonne of ground.
The puzzle makers are Magic Matt versus Kate and while JLap says it’s neck and neck it looks like Matt is way ahead. Interestingly Kate did the puzzle last time and was beaten by Nick – does no one else want to have a go at puzzles and put a target on themselves?
Poor old yellow has to head back to camp without so much as a nibble of a hash brown.
Phoebe tells the camera: “The strangest thing is I trust Kristie the most in this tribe but, strategically, I have to vote for her.”

At the waterfull, everyone discovers the way to make Hungry Jack’s coffee taste good is to go 30 days or so without caffeine. Wonder if they will all have massive headaches a few hours later? Sue is stoked to a) be safe and b) eat something that’s not rice and beans and c) to wash herself in fresh water.


At yellow, Kate and Conner do an awkward yet rather sweet exchanging of trust with each other, involving placing invisible “trust” in each other’s hand. Aww – you wouldn’t see that on US Survivor.


Meanwhile, Phoebe is still playing Kristie, telling her they can pull Conner in to vote out Kate. Kristie says she just wants to have a chat with Kate and Phoebe’s mind works frantically to come up with a plausible reason this is a bad idea. But Kristie goes ahead and Kate, honest Kate, makes it clear the vote was Phoebe’s idea. Uh oh!
I know Phoebe is just playing the game and has done well to save herself from a few raw deals, but I can’t help but be Team Kristie on this one, due to her quirky, slightly awkward vibe.
“She’s the black widow; she’s weaving a web of lies,” Kate tells Kristie.
Conner is happy Phoebe and Kristie are mistrusting each other and he’s telling both of them what they want to hear.
Kristie tells the camera she’s determined to not be a goat and to make a move by taking out one of the biggest plays in the game. Ah, it’s refreshing to hear someone talking who’s actually watched Survivor. (And a nice little evil chuckle at the end of her spiel.) I don’t know if it will work but at least she’s trying.


Tribal council time
JLap again starts by reminding them how much they suck, having not won a challenge since the tribe shuffle. JLap desperately tries to get Kristie to say something bad about her tribemates or her fears but she won’t bite.
“This is very cryptic,” JLap smiles, shaking his head slowly.
Conner says it’s important they are strong in challenges as they still don’t know when the merge will be – but they must be thinking it’s the next day.
The votes are read: Kristie, Pheobe (sic – seriously – can’t she tell them how to spell her name), Phoebe (that must be Kate because she spelt it correctly before) and Pheb’s (ick).
Well played, Kristie!
It’s hugs all round and Kristie tells Phoebe, “I love you, babe”.

On Sunday: After 32 days it’s merge time at what looks like the Survivor auction. Yay!

Phoebe afterwards: Give Kristie credit for outplaying her and takes it with grace.

So, now the question is, what will happen to the three remaining yellows when they merge with blue to create the black tribe? I kind of hope Kristie teams up with Nick. I can see Kate getting along with Lee, Sam and El but whether there will be time for her to forge a bond is unclear – and she’s an obvious threat.



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48 Comments

  1. I think I’m gonna channel my inner Keira and just sit here shouting obnoxiously, “Merge. Merge. Merge. Merge. Merge,” until they do.

    It’s 10 versus 4. They *have* to at some point, don’t they? The yellow tribe has been decimated. There’s nothing left. And I so want to see Phoebe versus Flick in a winner-take-all game of how to manipulate your friends and make enemies.

  2. They spent a huge amount of time with Nick shouting at Sue, that I thought for sure that was foreshadowing a loss by blue, and a trip to tribal council where Sue and Nick would face-off in front of JLap.

    Alas. Blue wins. Again. Whoop-de-do. Although, gosh, they were close (but Jenna Louise absolutely killed it on that challenge, so it’s not like the win wasn’t well deserved).

  3. The ad showed Kate telling Kristie about Phoebe’s plan so even when Vavau were winning I knew blue would come through because they hadn’t shown that yet.
    Wow – Nick is soooooo vengeful, he should be thanking his lucky stars that he was saved and got swapped to a winning team.

      • Makes you wonder how long he’ll last when the merge happens, I doubt his bitching has been confined to the camera. He’s useful for challenges at the moment but …..

    • In Nick’s narrative the winning team would be the one HE is on. He’s not bitter – he’s entitled to wreak vengeance in those who failed to recognise his greatness.

  4. Didn’t Sue seem overjoyed at the opportunity to finally get something to eat? She must be counting her lucky stars that she got picked to be on the tribe that’s actually eating better than most of them probably would be back home in Australia.

    Meanwhile, is it me or is Phoebe’s hair getting larger? It’s like, every time there’s another confessional, the camera has pulled back even further, just because it’s getting harder and harder to fit Phoebe and her *gigantic* hair into frame.

        • Hi Daisy and everyone, I have been lurking around ever since MasterChef when I wanted that final two guy to win (who so enthrals me I can’t recall his name) and have been loving all the comments, especially the memes. I am with you on Pheobe – I am surprised the producers didn’t pull a fast one just to keep her in. Maybe they already have one Flick on the show. This will not be popular, but I don’t mind weasel Nick.

          • Ah, Intense Matt. I had to think for a minute there. I like Nick – it’s good to have someone so passionate about the game and he’s a fun narrator.

  5. Well that’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back. The most predictable episode thus far.
    I didn’t see Kate’s armpit so thanks for the update Juz.

  6. Well done to the castaways for finally doing something that they all should’ve done 10 episodes ago and ousting Phoebe. In the end, she made *too* many moves, and it all caught up to her … although, she’s got a point, she did manage to totally destroy the yellow tribe from the ground up. And I’ll take my hat off to her, it took three bloody eliminations to *finally* get rid of her. She held on by the skin of her teeth for a very long time. Third time’s the charm, I suppose.

    I think if she’d stayed true to Kristie and tried to sweet-talk Conner last episode, that may have been a better plan (because turning on Kristie really was her downfall). But, eh.

    Meanwhile, next time, FINALLY, the tribes merge and it’s now an individual game. Frankly it’ll be interesting (after the last few episodes turned into a blue rampage/snorefest) to see how the game changes when it’s every man/woman/Nick for themselves.

    • Phoebe made a catastrophic mistake by trying to get into a besties alliance that were committed to staying together at all costs. If she’d stuck with Krystie and tried to separate Kate or Connor from the alliance she would have avoided tonight’s disaster.

      I don’t think that Phoebe was a particularly conniving player, it is just that the rest of the cast appear to be snoozing quietly though the season and voting bestie whenever they get the chance.

      • Phoebe exposed herself as the more sinister of the two and the real puppet master because she was the first to start eating her “alliance”.

        • They are playing a game where conniving is a legitimate tactic and the Vavau 2 feel so entitled they are convinced that anyone who has an idol should tell them.

      • I think we might start to see Sue’s inner bitch show. While I’d pick her over Nick, I think she just hasn’t needed to show her nasty side thus far.

        • The theory that Phoebe should have told them about the idol and failure to do so makes her a snake speaks volumes about Sue’s inner bitch and the sense of entitlement with which she has so far played. When you find yourself in tribe ruled by a bestie alliance that refuses to even talk with you then you do whatever you can to survive.

          The game is called Survivor not Kumbaya.

  7. Before I watch or read, I just want to say that I hope the producers stop micro-managing the exits. It spoils the game, is unfair, and is annoying.

    • Agreed Daisy. It’s outwit outplay and outlast each other, not the producers. But the last few tribals the producers have manipulated the game and that’s not right. The game itself has inherent rules that shouldn’t be manipulated like this otherwise you stop believing that it’s anyone’s game and you dont invest any more into it. .

      If you go to tribal to “vote someone out” it should be out of the game, not to the next team, the next tree the next rock, but not out of the game.

      Anyway, last night’s episode showed a lot of talk except for when the three agree to vote Phoebe out. I know they want to retain some tension (obsessively so because that music is overwhelming everything ), but without some hint that there was some discussion, it’s really disjointed.

      I do like Kate. And I think that “trust” exchange with her and Conner was a nice moment. I hope they get there.

  8. Hooray. Some people just have faces you want to punch (if I was a violent person). Phoebe’s little rabbitty Gladys Kravitz face and smugness was a grating combination.
    Hungry Jacks product placement a-bloody-gain.

    Jonathan, get some better tribal questions. They aren’t supposed to tell you (and each other) who they are voting out. Jonathan’s tribal grilling was annoying. The producers need to ask about fights and tensions etc, not stupid questions like, “how are you going to vote?” Amateurs.

  9. Well played Phoebe…i liked her game, yeah she backstabbed a few buddies along the way but was generally upfront about it all..would have liked to see her in the merge for a bit of sheninigans as i think Kristie is kinda dull…hopefully she proves me wrong!
    Nick is a dick and has watched enough Survivor to know his rants will get air time…hopefully though not for too much longer…he made the same comments he said tonight about Sue as he said for JL when she came to Saanapu…he is a wanker but an entertaining one!

  10. Others might be entertaining too now that it’s no longer the fffffvau/Ppphhhhoebe show.
    Sorry but whenever they say Favau I think of fff fff fff Hannibal Lecter. I don’t know why.

  11. I really hope that we see immediate reshuffling of alliances. I don’t want to see the sanaaapu nine just picking off the vavau three in the next several episodes. Hopefully Nick has already made himself unpopular, and that lingering alliances from the old tribes help to make the groups relatively even. JL must be feeling thatt at least she now has Sue from the old tribe.

    It will be hard for people to break through the Lee, El, Sam etc alliance. I can’t see them turning on each other any time soon.

  12. Brad and Angelina aren’t “survivors”. Big tribal council coming up for them.

    Wonder who was “blindsided” here?

    Sanaapu reminds me of “snafu” a little too much.

    • Ah, Brangelina. Celebrity marriages just never last, do they?

      Do I think that Jennifer Aniston is cackling like a mad scientist at the moment, or dancing in the streets, or something? Probably not.

      Do I think that Jennifer Aniston saw the news on her Facebook newsfeed, leaned back and muttered, “Heh” under her breath? Yeah, I do.

  13. Thanks for the great recap Juz.
    Wow, for a minute there I thought finally Vavau were going to win a challenge. I was on the edge of my seat. But no, fucking Saanapu won again.
    I bet Sue was super grateful to Brooke for picking her to join their tribe. She would have been spewing if Vavau had won.
    So Sue & that other girl who is feuding with Nick should form an alliance.
    Those promo’s were so misleading. I thought there was going to be a massive fight between Kristie & Phoebe. But nothing.
    Finally they are merging. It was getting ridiculous. So disappointed Phoebe went, would have liked to see the dynamics between her & Kristie after the merge now that Kristie knows the truth.

  14. Phoebe was smart enough to be gracious in defeat. I like Kate she seems to play smart but fair. As Sioux Denim said Kristie is on the dull side, I think she is another one who is still around through luck rather than strategy but she won’t be viewed as a threat so will probably last a while longer. As a new viewer I have no idea how the game changes now that they are individuals so I could have that totally wrong.
    I thought Rosie was a big Survivor fan but haven’t seen her commenting lately.

    • I don’t mind watching Kristie. She is weird as though she lacks the self awareness gene. It will be fun watching her wriggle and morph to fit her next ‘alliance’.

  15. There are two left who spelled it “Pheobe” and “Pheb’s” again….. so perhaps there are two “on the dull side”.

  16. Having read on this site earlier that Lee and El are dating now sorta makes me think we should be watching that ‘coupling’ going forward…with Sam in the mix it will be interesting..Sam totally was pissed off Connor took him to the other tribe so am interested to see how they go at the merge…
    Really liking Kate and hoping she doesnt exit too much early…they certainly see her as a big threat.

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